Sutton lightweight Cassius Connor has been forced to withdraw from his shot at the vacant International Masters Silver lightweight title due to a back injury.

The 28-year-old sustained the injury while sparring with Ben Hall earlier this week, and means the July 12 fight against Bulgarian Yordan Vasilev is off.

Connor said: “The physio says I cannot train for three weeks minimum, just my luck. I was sparring and I pulled a muscle that runs right up my back.”

The silver lining for Connor is that his next scheduled fight, on September 6, is for the vacant British Masters lightweight title against Michael Devine.

Connor, who has suffered a run of bad luck in recent months with opponent switches, cancelled title fights, a family bereavement and now an injury, said: "After all the frustrations recently I'm determined to punch holes in this kid.

"All my anger and frustration is gonna get taken out on this guy, it’s gonna be violent, explosive and it's gonna be over quickly.

"I'm gonna walk through this guy and make him sorry for ever stepping up to me.”